Interview with operators of the Sugam Integrated Community Service Centre at Una, Himachal Pradesh

Duration: 00:04:46; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 121.173; Saturation: 0.048; Lightness: 0.618; Volume: 0.306; Cuts per Minute: 20.131; Words per Minute: 92.479

The Identity project emerged as a result of our dissatisfaction at the nature of the debate that was emerging on the area of digital governance in India.
Over the past three years we have conducted numerous field visits in seven Indian states.These visits include numerous video-conversations, some short and others very long, with a diverse number of those who were involved with this entire process of participating in the emergence of a digital ecosystem of governance. These are interviews with people being enrolled into the Aadhaar programme, with district-level Panchayat and other officials, with numerous State government bureaucrats, with private enrollment representatives, representatives of various governmental services, with operators and other members of this digital workforce. Conversations are often long, spontaneous and deliberately unstructured: and the focus is mainly on a vérité style using amateur video.
Some key issues that we shortlisted for detailed inquiry were issues of migrants, both domestic and across international borders, homelessness in cities, and the financially excluded. Each of these areas was discussed in considerable detail at major public consultations held in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore, in partnership with the CSDS, the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, and the Urban Research and Policy Programme Initiative of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. All videos of all presentations made at these events are also available here.
CSCS also has an extensive text archives of material on the field as a whole, available on http://eprints.cscsarchives.org.

Clip Summary: Interview with the Sugam Integrated Community Service Centre at Una. A government official explains where the database and records (for things such as land records, electricity registrations etc.) are stored and processed. He says that all the date is sent to the state records and then the national records. Hard copies of these documents are in their office. The Adhaar card, they say has replaced all other identification documents. For the Sugam CSC see http://hp.gov.in/sugam/

Interviewer: How many Sugam centers are there in the district ?
Sugam Official1: There is only one center, i started operation from 12th of April.

Interviewer: Is the land recording process carried out over here ?
Sugam Official1: We have the land records Tehsil wise.

Interviewer: So people can get their land records from here too. What about electricity bills ?
Sugam Official 1: No, the electricity service has not started yet. They follow their old way. There is a provision for them too the process has not been transferred completely. There are provisions for the Welfare program, Handicapped , Passport, Senior citizen cards. They do come on Tuesday. They setup their instruments and process the applicants.

Interviewer: What about the phone bills ?
Sugam Official 1: That has not started yet.

Interviewer: So you have the data for the driving license, <voice not clear> section.

Interviewer: How does the process work ?
Sugam Official 1 :First the person has to apply for a learners license. They are given files from our office. They have to complete according to the checklist provided with the file. Then they can submit the cash at the cash counter and next the photograph is taken in the photo section,

Interviewer: Where is the data entry done and where is it stored ?
Sugam Official 1: The data entry is done at the counter as an online entry and it is being transferred via the National Information Center to the State register and the National register.

Interviewer: So once the data is sent you do not retain a copy of it.
Sugam Official 1: We do have the manual offline record. If in case it is required, we have kept a offline record too.
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Interviewer: Do you have any technical support people to take care of the system and the network ?
Sugam Official 1 and 2:The DIO from National Information Center is the in house person for those tasks.

Interviewer: When an applicant comes for a new License, What are the identifications that he can provide.
Sugam Official 1: The documents mentioned in the file, like the Ration Card, electricity bill or the DDSO certificate for people in service.

Interviewer: Do you know about the Aadhar Cards ?
Sugam Official 1: Yes, we got out Aadhar cards.

Interviewer: Will the Aadhar card help in the services you provide ?
Sugam Official 1 & 2: We are accepting the Aadhar cards as valid proof for our services.

Interviewer: So is Aadhar enough ?
Sugam official 1: The card has the details of the person including the address so we use it as an identification document.
Aadhar Official: They just use it as an identification document. Currently there is no online verification with the help if Aadhar.
Interviewer: Thank you

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